TWO Chester youngsters are so tired of having to avoid dog mess on their street, they have written to the Prime Minister demanding something be done about it.
Eight-year-old Bella Earle and her sister Edie, five, enjoy riding their bikes around their home on Cedar Grove, Hoole, and walking to the shops with their mum Carlene, but lately their trips out have been spoiled by having to steer clear of copious amounts of dog mess, and having to keep their eyes on the ground all the time.
The final straw came on one occasion where they had to avoid 12 lots of mess on one journey, so Bella decided to take matters into her own hands and penned letters to both David Cameron and Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC), asking them to reprimand inconsiderate dog owners by ‘shouting at them’, and ordering them to use ‘poo bags’.
In her letter to CWaC, Bella wrote: “Dear Council, please stop letting people allow their dogs to poo outside my house. Me and my sister can’t go and walk, scooter or rollerboot to the shop anymore because of all the dog poo on the pavement.
“Please tell people with dogs to put posters up so when we go to the shop with Mummy we don’t step in dog poo. Can you clean it up. If you see someone not picking it up, can you shout at them and tell them to bring a poo bag to put it in?”
Meanwhile, Edie took the simpler, more direct approach in the form of a handmade poster reading: ‘No dog poo.’
The girls’ mum Carlene told The Chronicle that the family have their own dog Boo, so don’t dislike the pets, just their irresponsible owners.
“They’ve just got into grown up girl bikes which they got for Christmas and they like riding them and walking to the shops, but it’s quite frustrating that now we can’t seem to do that without having to keep our eyes on the ground because of the amount of dog mess,” she said.
“Bella said she was going to write a letter, she felt so strongly about it. She wanted to write to David Cameron but I told her she wouldn’t be guaranteed a reply to that!
“It really isn’t nice though; our street and the surrounding streets are all the same. You want to look after where you live. Hopefully the letters will encourage the council to put signs up and dog walkers will respect them.”
Cheshire West and Chester Council have issued the following response to Bella:
“Many thanks for getting in touch with us regarding the problem of dog mess where you live.
“You’ll be pleased to know that the council has recently launched a campaign to tackle this problem. Our Good Dog Ownership campaign was launched last month and is encouraging dog owners to pick up after their pet.
“We have a special mascot for the campaign, a dog called Mabel – she’s a Newfoundland. She’s very large and very noticeable, so she will do a great job of drawing attention to our messages to dog owners. Mabel will be visiting schools to spread the word about how to be a good dog owner.
“Please let us know which school you go to or perhaps ask your headteacher if they would like us to organise for Mabel to visit your school. Then, you and your school friends can help us with our campaign.
“You’ll also be pleased to hear that Hoole is one of the first hotspot areas we will be targeting with our campaign. We will be using special posters with glow-in-the-dark ink to let thoughtless dog owners know that we are watching them. We will also be posting information through the doors of houses where you live, to ask for people to help us with our campaign and to report people who do not pick up dog mess.
“Anyone caught letting their dog foul will be fined £75. Look out for the posters and our other campaign information soon.”
